Leeman

Participants: McCarthys, Martin & Karen Archer, Glenn Bignell, Keith Parker, The Paul Ryans, Neil Hewer & Henry Praxmarer, George & Linda Bickerdike, Cheethams, Wendy & Guy Lehmann.

A total of 9 vehicles made their own way up to the Leeman Caravan Park throughout the day on Friday 2^ndMarch.  The group were allocated shaded sites with grass in close proximity to the camp kitchen and amenities. Once again the weather was beautiful and surroundings were fantastic.

On Saturday, the weather forecast predicted a hot day. We decided to run a trip from the northern end of Stockyard Gully.  We made a quick detour to check out Lake Indoon, which was more of salt lake than anything else. We entered a track off the Coolimba Eneabba Road and made our way south along a rocky sandy terrain. We eventually arrived at the Stockyard Gully caves, and took the opportunity to have morning tea, and a stroll through the caves. As the day was starting to heat up, we continued the journey along the rocky tracks, and finally came out onto the bitumen a few kilometres from Greenhead where we spent a couple of hours swimming and having lunch. Happy hour back at the caravan park was followed by dinner at the local country/sportsmans club.

Sunday’s day trip started directly behind the caravan park. We made our way through tracks amongst the dunes, and headed towards Milligans Island beach.  The scenery was lovely with gorgeous coves.  We got to the end of the track and discovered the beach was full of seaweed and thought we couldn’t continue on.  Our brave President Martin decided to tackle the bumpy mounds of seaweed first, and led the rest of the group through to the other end.  We found a lovely clear spot on the beach for mornos and an early swim.  After that we continued on to Point Louise and admired the view looking out over the ocean and nearby Greenhead.  We returned to the caravan park for lunch and a rest.

After lunch, Glenn led a small group of us to some sand dunes north of Leeman. The dunes were a spectacular white contrasted against the blue sky. Glenn, Keith, and ourselves, admired the view from the top of the dunes, whilst Paul, Neil and Henry (in Neil’s car) continued on to find more play areas.  Glenn and Keith decided they would venture down the steep sand dune while we took a video of the descent from the bottom.

We later caught up with Paul and Neil who were happily playing like little boys in a large sandpit. Not wanting to be left out of the fun, the rest of us joined them.  Making it to the top of a large steep sand dune was the challenge of the day. Paul was the first make it up, in a fashion similar to a space shuttle launch. Keith and Neil had a go at it, and made it over without any trouble. Glenn attempted the dune a couple of times before finally getting over.  We started making our back out of the dunes, before one last descent down a large dune.  Jason and I filmed the group as they headed down.

We then continued out of the dunes, before (dare I say it) we got stuck! (not bogged).  Jason was very quick to get out of the car and quickly dig with his hands, and a minute or two later, we were out.  We found a nice spot on a nearby beach for a quick swim, before joining the rest of the group back at camp. On Monday morning we packed up after breakfast and made our own way back home. The caravan park owners were delighted with our club and offered to provide a prize/trophy next year, for an award of our choice for the weekend. We all loved the trip and will run it again next year!

Jane McCarthy